


How to Get Your Pumpkins

by pixiealtaira



Series: Kurtoberfest 2016 [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23540932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiealtaira/pseuds/pixiealtaira
Summary: prompt 1: PumpkinsSometimes it takes a bit of planning to get things how they need to be...
Series: Kurtoberfest 2016 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694098
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	How to Get Your Pumpkins

There were traditions in the Hummel household, and by golly this year they were going to follow them. Kurt had given his dad a break. Losing his mom had been devastating for both he and his dad. Last year had been bad.

But enough was enough. If they could continue having Friday night dinners, his dad could make the rest of Hummel Traditions work. He’d already given up dance classes, he’s agreed to wait on Piano lessons for another year, he was not going to give up other things that really took very little effort to have. They would have a Christmas Tree and it would be up before the Night Before Christmas. They would have a Thanksgiving meal that actually had Thanksgiving food, none of this TV dinner Bull Pucky his dad got away with last year. Next Easter would involve candy, a basket and a Bunny of some description. July Fourth would involve the viewing for fireworks someplace other than TV and Fall Traditions would be adhered to! They were behind in that category already.

The Pumpkin Photo was one of those.

There were on the wall 9 photos; even though last year’s was ridiculous, it was still there.

Nine photos of Kurt Hummel in a brown sweater, blue jeans, and brown boots sitting by a bunch of pumpkins hung in a line. The first he was just months old and couldn’t even sit up by himself. His mother had sort of wedged him in a pile of pumpkins to keep him upright and caught the photo just as Kurt stuffed a leaf into his mouth. The photos when he was one and two had him leaning with his cheek pressed against big orange pumpkins. The photo when he was three had him holding a pumpkin that filled his whole lap. When he was four his mother somehow captured a little brown sweatered brown booted Kurt standing on top of a tall skinny pumpkin perfectly balanced. The photo from when he was five had him holding a massive amount of small pumpkins. His sixth year found him in a very thick brown sweater lying on a pile of leaves with white pumpkins balanced on his back and year seven was a picture of him stacking pumpkins - a large orange, then a good sized dusty green, then a medium red orange, then a white and then a little orange pumpkin on top. Last year Kurt donned too small brown boots and a too small brown sweater and walked over to the Ridings’ house, six doors down and across the street and sat on their front step by their six pumpkins and worked the self-timer on his dad’s camera….the focus was off and the top of his head was cut off and there was too much space at the bottom of the picture and he wasn’t smiling at all…but the picture still exists.

He’d mentioned it this year already, three times. All three times, his dad had answered that he was busy or that they’d do it later or that he couldn’t worry about it right then. Of course he kept saying the same thing about school shopping as well.

Kurt could do it himself, like last year. But he had no brown boots he can even remotely fit into this year. There wasn’t a brown sweater of any sort. And the Ridings moved and Mr. McMilner does NOT do Halloween, as it is of the devil. Kurt’s dad was just going to have to listen. It was already half way through October and things have got to be done!

However, getting Dad to listen about something that would require shopping was going to take more than just asking. He hadn’t even bought school clothes for Kurt yet, and Kurt had been asking about those for months now!

It was going to take work…and maybe a bribe.

Kurt pulled out the cookie sheets. Caroline four doors down on this side of the street would be here to watch him as soon as she was done with school, because she didn’t have any clubs on Tuesdays. They would have time to bake. And tomorrow was in in-service day at his school, so no kids went to school but the older kids’ in-service day wasn’t until Friday, so his dad had had to take off work, so they could go shopping.

Kurt found and lined up the bins of oatmeal, flour and sugar. He located and retrieved the brown sugar. He found and lined up the eggs and butter. He retrieved from their hiding place chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.

The moment Caroline opened the door, Kurt pounced.

“Three batches of chocolate chip peanut butter chips cookies and you can take a whole batch home.” Kurt said.

He really wasn’t fond of Caroline. He found her tedious, but she liked cookies (and eating in general). She looked towards the TV. “You need to do your homework.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. He NEVER still needed to do his homework by the time she got here because he always did it as soon as he got home, but she NEVER seemed to comprehend that so she’d make him sit and read at the dining room table while she sat and watched soaps or talk shows or gossip shows in the living room (Mostly because she didn’t want him bugging her, at all. She told him right off the bat she was only there because his dad paid her $75 a week.). After the first week of sitting and reading the same book he’d brought home from school each afternoon over and over and over Kurt convinced Ms. Shelby, who watched him Friday afternoons and certain Saturdays to take him to buy workbooks, crayons and pencils for home, and several chapter books that were just beyond his reading level, but close enough that she didn’t seemed fussed about it. He used that to make his afternoon box, which lived in the cupboard under the china cabinet. He’d exhausted his birthday money and the money Jake at the garage paid him to sweep that hadn’t been put in the bank already.

“It is done. I’ll let you eat cookie dough AND I’ll let you turn the TV up so loudly you can hear it in the kitchen.” Kurt said.

“I won’t be able to see the pictures.” Caroline said.

“I’ll do most of your writing assignment. You’ll just have to write down what I say.” Kurt said.

Caroline hated her nightly 100 to 500 word writing assignment and often bugged Kurt to answer for her, which he never did anymore.

“We do it first.” Caroline said.

“Of course.”

“Deal.”

“What was today’s topic?” Kurt asked.

“If you could choose one fairytale to visit, which would it be and why?” Caroline said.

Kurt rolled his eyes. “So, what is your favorite fairytale?”

“I don’t know any?” Caroline said.

Kurt snorted. “Let’s try again. What is your favorite Disney cartoon movie?”

“Sleepy Beauty. The prince is so handsome and brave.”

“What else do you like about it?” Kurt asked.

“The prince was handsome and brave.” Caroline repeated.

Kurt sighed. “That’s it?”

Caroline was even more shallow than Kurt ever was. Kurt talked Caroline through several paragraphs about hope and perseverance and other pretty words and then pointed to the kitchen. Caroline turned on the oven for him, and then sat at the doorway so she could see the TV while Kurt made the cookies. She put them in the oven when needed and took baked cookies out while Kurt cleaned up. When all that was left was baking, and thus the cookie sheets which were in use, Kurt put everything away and turned to making dinner. They were having cheat soup. Kurt could make that without much help. He put hash browns, frozen cut carrots and frozen corn in the big pot and covered them with water and set it to heat for about 20 minutes, or rather two cookie batches (18 minutes since his cookies baked for 9). He stirred it at cookie switch time and then again when the next batch came out. After stirring he added two cans of canned chicken. When the next pan of cookies can out he’d have to have Caroline stir in the two cans of cream of something soups…his choice for this meal was cream of chicken and cream of celery. He’d get her to whisk the lumps smooth.

The soup was simmering on low, the cream soups blended nicely, if not completely smooth since Caroline didn’t understand the concept of whisking at all, when Kurt’s dad got home. Kurt handed Caroline her plate piled high with cookies and smiled sweetly.

His dad headed to the bathroom downstairs to wash up.

“Dinner is done and we have some lovely cookies for dessert, Daddy.” Kurt announced.

Burt came in and looked at his kid.

Kurt smiled sweetly again. “After dinner, I thought we could make some plans for tomorrow.”

Kurt set the tables, placed out crackers and butter…even though he wished he had something better to offer than that. He washed up while his dad dished out the soup and put it on the table.

They ate in silence until Burt was nearly finished.

“Dad, we should go shopping tomorrow. I need some fall clothing. Mr. Shoemaker said I will have to start staying in at recess unless I start bringing a jacket to school and start wearing longer jeans and better shoes.”

Burt grunted. He’d have accused the kid of exaggerating, but the morning playground worker told Jake that Kurt needed to start wearing a jacket in the mornings and that summer clothing was no longer acceptable last Friday when he dropped Kurt off at the school.

“Fine.”

Kurt smiled. He knew after Jake got told he needed fall clothing his dad would listen to that…now for the harder part.

“We also need to get some candy for trick-or-treating and I need a costume. If we go to a good Halloween store I’ll be willing to settle for a store bought costume. Not a cheap one though.”

Kurt started at his dad as his dad glared at him. “You’re nine, Kurt. Surely you are too old for trick-or-treating and dressing up.”

Kurt gave his dad a look. The look his dad got on his case for. “Dad, you are never too old for dress-up.”

“You could wear your coveralls from the garage.”

“No.”

“What do you want to be then?” his dad asked.

“Haven’t seen what there is out there now, have I?” Kurt said. He hadn’t. He hadn’t been anywhere other than school since school started except for the one afternoon with Ms. Shelby, even though his dad had promised him swim lessons. No mall, no grocery store…nothing.

“Kurt…” his dad started.

“No, you promised. You promised this year would be better. That I wouldn’t be stuck at home all the time like last year. You promised.”

Burt sighed and nodded.

Kurt knew he’d won so far and they’d go shopping. He actually did know what he wanted to be, and played right he’d get his pumpkins and the sweater he wanted and the winter coat he’d seen on TV and winter boots and brown boots and new tennis shoes and his Halloween costume. He could get a useful jacket and new nice pants and a new button down shirt that wasn’t plaid. He might even be able to get some movies.

The next morning, Kurt got up and got dressed. It was chilly, but he made sure to wear his shortest shorts and his thinnest t-shirt. Much like he’d done for most of last week, until someone noticed and said something to one of his adults. He put on his tennis shoes, which were too small. Then he went down to breakfast.

His dad frowned. “Go get some long pants on, it’s chilly outside.”

“I haven’t got any, they were too short by the end of last school year and we cut them all off for shorts, remember?” Kurt said.

His dad sighed.

“Can you at least go get a jacket?”

“The only jacket I had that fit got ruined by Aunt Mildred’s boys when you made me go camping with them in July. You were supposed to take me to replace it but Ms. Rusty’s car broke down.”

“Oh yeah.” Burt looked a little pinched. He was going to tell Kurt to get his heavy winter coat, but remembered when he’d seen it last it was three inches too short in the sleeves even then. “Let’s go.”

Kurt skipped to the car while trying not to shiver.

“Where to kid?” Burt asked.

Kurt considered. He liked the smaller kids clothing stores in the mall better than some stores, but his dad wouldn’t like the prices. However, he remembered that Sears had a good kids clothing refund thingy that his mom had used once or twice and his dad had a credit card for sears. And that is where his coat was supposed to be. He went over his list in his head…pants, shirts, sweater, socks, underwear and shoes that he liked. He was past the point of even being really picky, but he was still going to be a little picky. His dad really didn’t have great taste in clothing.

“Sears, Daddy.”

Burt nodded. Kurt sang to himself all the way to the mall.

Kurt nearly shook with anticipation when they got there. However he knew his dad would not buy like his mom did, so Kurt had planned.

“Daddy, we need to try on pants to get the right size.” Kurt said and watched his dad moan. “Silly Daddy, ask the lady for help when she comes and asks if we need anything. I give her three minutes.”

Kurt smiled when the lady asked his dad if he needed help before three minutes were up.

“I need jeans the right size and I don’t know what size I wear anymore.” Kurt said.

They were shown a dressing room and the lady brought him four pairs of jeans. He tried the first which was too small, or rather they would be within a month or so and there was no way he was going to get his dad to take him shopping for new jeans that soon. He went with the next size up, which were a little long but he could cuff them and he already knew to look for the pants with the elastic adjustable waists.

Kurt smiled and noted the size.

“We need to look for 10s, Dad. Two pairs of blues jeans, two pairs of those cargo jeans you like, two of those carpenter jeans and one pair of black slacks.”

“Black slacks?” Burt asked.

“If we buy them now, you won’t have to panic come performance season. We haven’t started practice yet, but that is always what they ask us to have at school. Black slacks and either a long sleeved white t-shirt or a long sleeved black t-shirt, we can get those here as well.” Burt sighed. Kurt just smiled. He’d noticed sale signs. First he led Burt to the jeans that weren’t on sale though.

Burt looked through racks and piles, showing Kurt jeans just for him to frown. Kurt hated boot cut jeans.

When his dad pulled out a pair of camo jeans, Kurt had had enough. “Look dad. Let’s go over there by those signs.”

“Hey kid, these aren’t as expensive as those back there were and they’re 40% off, too.” Burt said. “But there aren’t any really fun jeans here.”

Kurt shrugged. “Plain jeans will work for now, maybe we can look for some fun ones around Christmas. If we get these jeans maybe we can get a pair of khakis too, like those in the school uniform section. In case I need nice clothes at some point.”

Kurt found a nice blue blue jean regular fit pair that would be perfect for his Halloween idea and those were the first pair he put in the cart. He got a pair of light blue jeans in the same fit and found a pair of really dark blue cargo jeans with loads of pockets and a pair of black carpenter jeans. He then just grabbed another two pairs of jeans in normal jean colors. He found black slacks on sale and picked out the school uniform khaki pants. From there Kurt could see the coats and jackets.

“Dad, look, coats are on sale.” Kurt said. Kurt beamed when he saw the coat he wanted. It was a Paddington bear coat…a royal blue Paddington bear coat. He watched as his dad looked at the big fat boring coats. He walked over and looked at the prices. The coat he wanted was similarly priced; in fact it was less expensive than some of the thicker coats his dad was looking at. This and the jacket he wanted for his costume idea were going to be the tricky parts.

“Dad, how about this coat over here?” Kurt pulled his dad to the coat rack with the coat he wanted on it. “It would be really warm and it is so nice looking.”

“It’s not really a coat you can play in very well, though.” Burt said.

“It has a hood and big pockets.” Kurt said.

Burt looked at the coat more closely, noting it was well lined and would be warm. He pulled one off a hanger for Kurt to try on. He noted that the size ten was nearly too short in the arms and pulled off the size twelve. Kurt hid crossed fingers behind his back. Burt looked at the price and then back at Kurt.

“In the blue?” Burt asked.

“Yes, please, Daddy.”

The coat went into the cart. Kurt did a happy dance as soon as his dad turned around.

“We should look for jackets as well.” Kurt said. “And then look at shirts and sweaters.”

Burt grunted.

Kurt pulled his dad to the lighter weight jackets. He was not seeing the jacket he had in mind, but that he had seen in a Target ad. Kurt was willing to lower himself to Target if necessary.

His dad wasn’t finding anything in the jackets either and getting grumpy because of it. The only jacket his dad had even remotely liked was the same price as the coat and Burt didn’t think Kurt would wear it often enough to make it worth the price.

“How about we look for sweaters and shirts and we can look for a jacket somewhere else?” Kurt asked.

Burt nodded.

“How about I find the necessities and you look for something fun?” Kurt asked.

Kurt put long sleeve shirt slick t-shirt things found by the long johns in white and black in the cart and then added a three pack of plain white t-shirts/undershirts. He found a heavy cotton white button down, on sale, and then added sweaters …red, black and his brown sweater. He hadn’t gone expensive. In fact the red and black sweaters were just ten bucks. His brown sweater, though, was a little more. It was thick and knit with a heavy yarn that was mostly cotton. The yarn wasn’t the same shade of brown though, so the sweater looked fuzzier than it really was. He’d picked a size fourteen so he could wear it a long time.

“Ok, Dad. Did you find anything fun?” Kurt asked.

Burt looked at the cart. Kurt smiled. “The white button down can be worn for anything needing something more fancy, and can be paired with the sweaters as well. The sweaters can be worn to layer on really cold days, and inside. If I have sweaters and such inside we can keep the heat down a bit more and save money on our bill.”

Burt nodded and held out a shirt that said something about Monkeys and homework. Kurt pulled green shirt with Kermit’s face on it. Both went into the cart, as well as two more his dad picked out.

Burt looked at Kurt’s shoes.

“Can we look here for shoes?” Burt asked.

Kurt nodded. He might find boots here, brown ones, but he knew his dad would not find the kind of winter boots he liked Kurt to have and they would not have the type of tennis shoes he wanted. He could work with that though.

Kurt looked at the shoes and frowned. He could not see boots like he wanted…not for little boys. He knew his dad would not buy him girl boots. He wasn’t fond of the tennis shoes either.

“See anything you like, kiddo?”

“No. Could we look at like a store that sells sporting stuff? I want some gym shoes and then some boots that can be all purpose. Some hiking boots might work. Brown boots, dad.”

Burt paid at Sears and drove to the big sporting goods store that he liked to take Kurt to and talk about things life fishing and camping and sports in. Kurt let his dad drag him around the camping and fishing sections, the hunting section…agreed to a bow as soon as he was big enough to get a cool bow and not a dumb one that didn’t look old enough… and the sports sections devoted to football, baseball and basketball. Kurt frowned for a bit at the shoes until he saw kids work boots.

“Those, Daddy. Those boots would be shoes I could wear to school and to the shop or maybe not to the shop all the time because then they’d get dirty…but they are nice and brown and can take some wear.”

“You want work boots?” Burt asked.

Kurt smiled. “I like the darker ones. They’d show grease stains less and be better at the shop. I think the lighter ones might be for carpenters, who play in sawdust.”

Kurt left the store with the boots, after the salesman assured Burt that they were made to be comfortable and could be hiked in and pointed out that they were on sale. Burt added thick socks in browns and black and grey at the salesman’s advice, which Kurt was very happy about. He’d have made do with white socks but this was so much better. Kurt also did not complain when they left the store with a fishing pole for him and a basketball and lawn darts. In fact Kurt smiled and said he looked forward to having fun with his dad as they played together. Kurt figured he could be enthusiastic about the lawn darts and weather fishing three or four times a year and that the first time Kurt threw the basketball up to try to make a basket and it came down upon his dad’s head, like it always seemed to do in PE at school, the basketball would go away on its own.

“We’ve spent a bit, think we could go someplace less expensive to look next?” Burt asked Kurt.

“Not Walmart.” Kurt said.

“How about Target?” Burt asked.

Kurt sighed. “I guess.”

Inside Kurt was doing a happy dance.

The final stop was Target. Kurt eyed the pumpkins as they went in. Kurt figured they could get underwear and socks, hopefully jackets, and other shoes at a price his dad would find reasonable. He hoped his dad would look at movies if Kurt asked, and then Halloween costumes if he needed to go that far. 

“Let’s go see what they’ve got for shoes and jackets here, kid.” Burt said.

“Can we look at the movies on the way?” Kurt asked.

Burt nodded. Kurt was over the moon as they went towards the movies. There were old movies poster replicas out. 

“Oh, Dad. Look.” Kurt said, pointing to the Rebel Without a Cause poster. “And there are some Elvis ones as well.”

Burt stopped long enough to flip through the posters. Then they moved to the movies. Kurt pointed out a new Scooby-doo movie, which he knew his dad would watch with him, before spying the movie he really wanted his dad to notice.

“Look, Dad. They have Grease on DVD. I don’t need it now but sooner or later our VHS will wear out.”

“I like that one,” Burt said.

Kurt smiled. “The t-birds are pretty cool.”

Burt picked up the movie and then noticed the second one behind it. Kurt said nothing. His mom had only let him watch parts of the second movie and he was not going to let his dad know that at all. They weren’t that expensive so Burt added both to the cart. He even put in the Scooby-doo movie. The movies let out right by the Halloween costumes.

“Why don’t we look at these? Maybe we can find something here.”

Kurt didn’t plan on finding anything, but this would work.

They looked and looked. Burt wasn’t fond of any of them. He liked the idea of the mechanic, but Kurt had coveralls at the shop that were better looking than the costume. Kurt nixed anything very scary. They sort of liked the vampire, but both agreed the material was flimsy and they weren’t sure it’d make it through school and Halloween proper. Not to mention it was almost forty bucks. Kurt sighed.

“I just don’t see anything, Dad.”

“We’ll go to that big Halloween store afterwards. Maybe they have a better selection.” Burt said.

Kurt smiled.

Burt turned them towards the kids clothing section and the jackets were right in front. At first Kurt didn’t see what he wanted then Burt pushed the cart in a bit and there it was.

“See anything you like, Kiddo?” Burt asked.

Kurt smiled. “I want that.”

The jacket was black and looked like leather, even though Kurt was pretty certain it wasn’t really. It was perfect for Kurt’s Halloween costume and it beat any other jacket he’d seen thus far in the day as something he’d wear. It at least came with personality.

“You want a black leather jacket?” Burt asked.

“I doubt it is leather, Dad. Not here and not for children. And everything else is dull…or silly.” Kurt said.

Burt looked around. Most of the other jackets were not really something he could see his kid wearing. There were racks of zippered hoodies, many with cartoon characters on them or sports teams. There were camo and other jackets that looked like they were made for hunting. Still, he wasn’t entirely sure the little black leather jacket was the best option.

“There isn’t a hood.” Burt said.

“We can buy some hats.”

“It looks sort of like a motorcycle jacket.” Burt said.

“Does it say Harley Davidson on the back?” Kurt asked. “Are there spikes or buckles?”

Burt pulled the jacket off the rack. It was lined, so was thicker than he had first thought. There were no logo’s on it. It was very much a simple black leather looking jacket. And it was one third the price all the jackets they’d seen at Sears were.

“Alright. But you need a jacket with a hood on it as well.” Burt said.

Kurt glared, but nodded. Burt looked and looked, finally spotting some denim jackets lined with flannel and with hoods. Kurt rolled his eyes but picked out a blue plaid flannel that he could live with.

He briefly thought he should have made a fuss, because his dad then added four flannel long sleeve button downs to the cart as well. Kurt made a protest, if he hadn’t his dad would definitely have suspected something. In return Kurt got to pick his underwear and white socks, and managed to talk his dad into three solid colored long sleeved Henleys, two which were thermal. They were much more acceptable than the Sponge Bob t-shirt his dad kept trying to talk him into.

“Dad, can we look at shoes here? I just want simple canvas tennis shoes. Black with white laces.”

Kurt knew they had them there as well…his mom had always got his canvas shoes here.

Burt added them happily. They were half the price he’d seen them at the mall when he was looking to replace the ones Kurt had outgrown. He even asked Kurt if he wanted any others. Kurt asked for rain boots, bright red ones.

Kurt smiled on the way to walking towards the checkout.

“Dad, if I made a costume out of things we had at the house, could we get some pumpkins instead of going to the Halloween store? Like two or three?”

“You think you could?” Burt asked.

“I would probably need some hair gel. Maybe some hair spray.” Kurt said.

Burt just shrugged and let Kurt add the hair stuff and a comb and a red bandana to the cart. Then they went to pick out pumpkins. Burt rolled his eyes as Kurt picked them, but they ended up with one very large pumpkin, two medium sized ones, and three that were sold as ones to cook, not carve.

When they loaded up the car, Burt asked Kurt if they needed to go anywhere else.

Kurt smiled. “No dad. I think we have made a great start to school clothes. My teachers will be happy now.”

“You don’t want to go pick out your winter boots?” Burt asked.

“I’m fine with the winter boots you always buy me.” Kurt answered. And he was. His dad was all about not freezing your feet and while Kurt still had to go out and play at recess in winter, fashion in footwear could wait.

Kurt hummed as he packed items into the house. He kept humming as he put his new clothing into the wash.

The next afternoon, Burt walked up to the house. Kurt was wearing his new Blue jeans, the brown sweater and his brown boots. He was sitting on the porch by the pumpkins and had the digital camera they’d bought a few years back at his side.

“Hi, Daddy.” Kurt said. “You remember how to work this, don’t you?”

Kurt handed his dad the camera, reminded Burt how to use it and how to focus. Then he sat down and leaned up against the large pumpkin. His smile was bright and cheery.

Burt took the photo, let Kurt rearrange himself and the pumpkins and took a few more.

Kurt kissed his dad’s cheek as he skipped into the house. “I don’t think it will cost anything to print it out at that place we always used to, but if it does I’ll come get your card from you.” Kurt called out.

Burt walked into the house and looked at the wall and suspected he’d been partially played.

He was certain he been played when his child walked down the stairs on Halloween as a mix between James Dean and a t-bird, although the hair might have been more early Elvis.


End file.
